Some time ago, I received an email that sounds like this, 'Dear Sir, I just
started to invest in stocks. Do you have any opinion about how much the ideal
amount of initial capital? Because, frankly, I am just a small investor with
fund of about US$ 1,000. I have heard that serious investors typically invest
in hundreds of thousands, even up to millions. Will I be able to compete with
those big guys?'

On this day, July 25, 2014, several public companies has released their
financial statements for the period of first half of 2014, either through the
website of IDX or newspaper. Unfortunately most of them recorded a
disappointing performance, if viewed from their negative growth of net income.
However there is one company that shows good performance with 30% of net profit
growth: PT Bukit Asam (PTBA). This
coal company may represent the overall performance of coal mining sector which
was begun to rise in 2014, after slowing down in the last two years. Prospects?

Frankly, I thought that after the presidential election on last July 9,
then the game is over and we as investors can back to our job to analyze the
stocks as usual, and no longer become a ‘political expert’. However, I was wrong.
Although the quick count results show that Jokowi win the presidential election,
but the camp of Prabowo, instead of giving up, they made several actions of
resistance, that makes the political tension to be more heated after the date
of July 9.

What was going through your mind when you hear the word ‘Chitose’? For me,
I immediately thought about folding chair
which can be found on the event of wedding, etc. And Chitose International (CINT) is indeed the most prominent
manufacturer of folding chairs in Indonesia. However, today CINT not only makes
folding chair, but also a variety of general furniture products to be sold to office
buildings, residential, hotels, restaurants, schools, until hospitals. In the
future, the company still has a number of business development plan, which will
be funded by cash obtained from its IPO in last June 2014.

After had difficulties in paying the interests and the principal capital
belonged to their investors for a few months, the authorities of law
enforcement finally intervened the ‘fraud case’ of Cipaganti Cooperative (Koperasi Cipaganti). The Police of West
Java set the status of suspects to Andianto Setiabudi, Julia Sri Redjeki, and
Yulinda Tjendrawati, all of them are primary caretakers of the cooperative.
Because the three persons are also members of the board of PT Cipaganti Citra
Graha (CPGT), in this case the president director, president commissioner, and
commissioner, the case caused the stock of CPGT to fall to 54, down more than
70% compared to its IPO price of 190, before then rebounded to Rp75 per share
as its current position.

In one of his annual letter in the 1960’s, Warren Buffett once said this, ‘Our
business is to buy shares at a lowest possible price, so when we sell it later
at a price that is not too high, we would still make a profit.' The example? In
this case in the Indonesian stock market? Well, I just found out a stock that is interesting
because of its low valuation. The stock is Bank BTN (BBTN).